<p>Has anyone else had this problem? I've posted a few threads on CC for school suggestions, talked to my counselor, talked to friends and family, and did some of my own digging online for schools. The problem is, as soon as I eliminate a school, I stumble upon another one to replace it.</p>
<p>I'm trying to narrow down my list to 12 schools: 4 reach, 4 match, 4 safeties. Right now, my list of reaches is comparably short (only have 7 on my list - so I only need to cut out 3), but my safeties and matches (especially so for matches) are still very long.</p>
<p>It seems too many schools fit my "criteria". Any suggestions on how to eliminate some of them?</p>
<p>You know there are many that will fit. I personally used non academic criteria to make my final list. Things like ease of travel to/from as in no airport connecting flights. Ease of in/out for foreign travel. Public transportation. Restaurant scene. Baseball. There are a million things folks can use to make the final cuts. It could be academic or quality of life or strictly wanting a particular life experience for 4 years. I was unwilling to limit myself to eating pizza for late night eats. Period. If that was all that was available it was a deal killer to me. No pro baseball games also a deal killer.</p>
<p>Look at each college's application process. You don't want to be writing tons of essays and paying lots of application fees. </p>
<p>Maybe list the schools you are considering and tell the board about what you want in a school and let fellow CCer's narrow down a list. You'll get tons of opinions.</p>
<p>If you can, visit the schools you are considering.</p>
<p>Thanks Hazmat and UCB for the suggestions! The problem is, unlike most CC students, I'm not Ivy caliber, so I'm in that applicant pool of "average to above average" universities. If you're interested in the Ivy leagues, most people apply only to those (with perhaps a few other select universities as safeties). On the other hand, there are so many more universities to choose from below the elite, which is causing me the problems.</p>
<p>Hazmat: I'm trying to do the same, but I guess I don't have such a rigid idea of what I want. </p>
<p>UCB: True, and I have looked into those factors as well. A lot of the universities I'm looking at have no/reduced application fee for online applications. I'm going to take your advice and post them on CC to ask people to assist me, but I'm going to try and eliminate a few by myself first. My list is embarrasingly long (around 35 - want to knock off about 10 before I post it on CC). Financial aid is a strong consideration, and I just want to ensure I find the best fit for me, thus the desire to apply to 12 schools.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, visiting a lot of these schools isn't an option, because they're so geographically spread out, and I'm located in the middle of the United States - away from most of these schools.</p>
<p>Just to clarify to you........my advice was not in any way intended to apply to solely very selective schools. You could for example want an urban as opposed to rural. You could then look at Penn and Drexel...same basic everything but very different admissions criteria and percentage. You could think beach and great weather.....so same options come into play.</p>
<p>try to compare your matches against each other as if you were accepted to all and choosing which one to go to: Would I rather go to School A or School B? School A or School C? etc
If you notice that there are some that you are continuously deciding against, take it off.</p>
<p>Thanks for your tip huskem! I just did that, and these were my results for my matches (the ones that came up the most):</p>
<p>University of Colorado: 13
Fordham: 13
Boston University: 12
Bentley College: 11
University of Denver: 9
Northeastern: 9
Indiana U: 9
Marquette: 9
Butler: 7
St John's: 5
Stony Brook: 4
U of San Fran: 3
U of San Diego: 2
Saint Louis U: 1
San Diego State: 0</p>
<p>I'm from Nebraska - and no, none of those are in-state. The two schools that I've considered in-state are on my safety list, because I'm guaranteed admission to them.</p>
<p>I've eliminated 5 schools from the list above, but I'm going to try and get it down to 4 match schools</p>
<p>I'll assume that you can afford all of the schools that you've listed and can ignore financial factors. Drop Bentley. It won't be a quality college experience compared to BU and Northeastern-too narrow a focus. Why St. John's? Do you mean the classic book St. John's? I would drop it- it doesn't seem to fit in with your other choices.</p>